Processing loss using the expressive writing paradigm :|how negative affectivity influences the outcome

Abstract

Experiencing and processing a loss can be challenging. The Expressive Writing (EW) paradigm, which has been studied for decades to examine its benefits on both people’s physical and psychological well-being, is one intervention method to facilitate this process. In order to contribute to the previous EW studies and to examine individual differences, negative affectivity (NA), which is known to be influential on people’s psychological functioning, was chosen. The sample of the present study was 86 Boğaziçi University students (59 female and 27 male) who were randomly assigned into two conditions. The experimental group (EG) was instructed to write about their loss experience and the control group (CG) was asked to write about their daily routines, for 15 minutes on four days within one week. The daily writing instructions for the EG were structured to increase the efficacy of the intervention by adding the perspective switching approach and writing about resilient parts of the self on separate days. The assessments were done both at baseline and three weeks later after the completion of the writing intervention. Being in line with some of the previous studies, it was hypothesized that the EW intervention would bring positive changes in terms of lower depression, rumination, and the loss-related intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal as well as higher post-traumatic growth, especially for the EG participants who were high on NA level. Although this hypothesis was not supported, the exploratory analyses using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program revealed some pioneering results for the negative affectivity groups.